"It's time to just talk about us as the Winnipeg Jets"

WINNIPEG - For years, Winnipeg Jets fans have had to live with a strange bit of hockey history.

There were the original Jets. Then there was the Atlanta Thrashers. And then, beginning in 2011, the Jets returned to Winnipeg.

Two Jets eras. One city. One fan base.

Now, officially, there is one history.

The Winnipeg Jets and the National Hockey League announced Thursday that the statistical history of the franchise will now include both iterations of the Jets, bringing together the original Winnipeg franchise from 1979-96, the Atlanta Thrashers from 1999-2011 and the current Jets dating back to their return to Winnipeg in 2011-12.

For Mark Chipman, Executive Chairman of True North Sports & Entertainment and the Winnipeg Jets, it is about more than changing numbers on a website.

It is about finally putting the franchise's history under one roof.

“I think that we always talk about, I don't know where it started, but we refer to the 1.0 and the 2.0 era,” Chipman said.

“And, with good reason, there was like 15 years in between, but I feel like it's time to just talk about us as the Winnipeg Jets.”

That separation between the two eras has always been understandable. The original Jets left Winnipeg in 1996 and eventually became the Phoenix Coyotes. When the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg in 2011, the new franchise brought the Jets name back — but not the original franchise's statistical history.

That has now changed.

And the timing is particularly fitting.

With the original Jets' history now incorporated, Dale Hawerchuk becomes the franchise's all-time leader in goals with 379 and points with 929. Thomas Steen moves into the top spot in assists with 553.

And then there is Mark Scheifele.

The current Jets captain enters the 2026-27 season with 372 goals, 535 assists and 907 points.

He is now chasing two of the most recognizable names in Winnipeg hockey history.

“It’s honestly more than serendipitous that the record holders are who they are, and that Scheif is knocking on the door, going past Dale, which I think Dale would be really excited about,” Chipman said.

That connection was not lost on Chipman.

“There's Thomas Steen and those names blended together — Blake Wheeler, Thomas Steen, Mark Scheifele, Dale Hawerchuk and on and on.”

Last season when Scheifele passed Blake Wheeler as the all-time points leader in Jets 2.0 history, he was happy, but his focus was on something else.

"I’m chasing a different guy. A guy that meant a lot to me and this community," Scheifele told Jets host Sara Orlesky in a post-game rinkside interview. "That one will be even more special."

The possibility of combining the histories became more realistic after the NHL's newest franchise in Utah chose not to carry forward the Coyotes' statistical history when it began play.

Chipman said the idea had been championed internally by True North’s Senior VP, Brand and Chief Marketing Officer, Dorian Morphy, who took the lead on exploring what might be possible.

“When I learned that Utah was going to abandon the history of the Coyotes and therefore the Jets, then that made it a more compelling argument — I guess not argument, but case — to approach the league and say, would this be achievable?” Chipman said.

The answer was yes.

But making it happen wasn't as simple as adding a few names to a record book.

The Jets also had to determine what would happen to the Atlanta Thrashers' history, because that franchise is the one Winnipeg acquired when the team relocated in 2011.

“So, we're now really the combination of the history of the original Winnipeg Jets up until the time that they stopped playing in Phoenix, plus the history of the Atlanta Thrashers, which is the history we acquired,” Chipman said. “And that's now our history.”

For Winnipeg fans, the significance goes well beyond statistical record books.

The original Jets helped establish hockey as a central part of the city's identity. Hawerchuk, Steen, Selanne and the players of that era remain deeply connected to generations of fans.

Chipman knows that connection better than most.

An unsuccessful attempt to keep the original Jets in Winnipeg in the 1990s was, in many ways, the beginning of his own journey with the franchise.

“That’s how I got into this,” Chipman said.

Since the team's return, True North has made a deliberate effort to reconnect the current franchise with its past — from alumni events to the Dale Hawerchuk statue and the celebration of the original Jets' history.

Chipman said the decision to combine the records simply ties everything together.

“The Hawerchuk versus Gretzky Alumni Game (in 2016) was really impactful for us as an organization, and then the (Hawerchuk) statue,” he said. “So, we've really tried to be very mindful and respectful of that history, because that's what got us into this business in the first place.”

Now the numbers will tell the same story.

The original Jets are no longer a separate statistical chapter.

The Thrashers aren't a disconnected footnote.

And the current Jets aren't simply a second attempt at the same name.

They are all part of the same franchise history.

For Scheifele, that means the opportunity to chase Hawerchuk, Steen and the other legends of Winnipeg's past.

And perhaps that's the most fitting part of all.

The player who has spent his entire NHL career trying to build his own legacy as a Winnipeg Jet will now have the opportunity to pass some of the greatest names in franchise history — officially, as part of the same story.

Scheifele begins his official chase of Hawerchuk and Steen, October 2, when the Jets host the Boston Bruins in their 2026-27 home opener.